EM Morning Roundup: World Bank Raised Global Growth Forecast

By Shuli Ren

The World Bank raised its global economic growth forecast by 20 basis points to 3.2% for 2014, the strongest since 2010, but downgraded the growth outlook for developing countries to 5.3%. Wall Street Journal has the details:

The bank slashed Brazil’s 2014 outlook to 2.4% from a previously expected 4%. It cut its growth outlook for China to 7.7% from 8%, and trimmed India’s outlook 0.3 percentage point to 6.2%.

Tencent Holdings (0700-HK) is expanding into Alibaba‘s home turf, e-commerce, by buying a 9.9% stake in logistics firmChina South City Holdings for $193 million. Logistics is the biggest bottleneck facing China’s e-commerce. The Shanghai Stock Market Composite Index lost 0.2%.

China’s largest telecom equipment maker Huawei Technologies said its sales last year grew 8% from more smartphone sales and China’s push to develop mobile telecom.

360buy, China’s second largest e-commerce after Alibaba, is planning an IPO in the second half of 2014, possibly raising $2 billion. The timing of the IPO will be tricky however, as Alibaba is seeking to go public this year too.

About Emerging Markets Daily

Emerging markets have been synonymous with growth, but the outlook for individual nations is constantly changing. Countries from Brazil and Russia to Turkey face challenges including infrastructure bottlenecks, credit issues and political shifts. The Barrons.com Emerging Markets Daily blog analyzes news, data and research out of emerging markets beyond Asia to help readers navigate the investment landscape.

Barron’s veteran Dimitra DeFotis has been blogging about emerging market investing since traveling to India and Turkey. Based in New York, she previously wrote for Barron’s about U.S. equity investing, including cover stories and roundtables on energy themes. Dimitra was among the first digital journalists at the Chicago Tribune and started her career as a police reporter at the Daily Herald in the Chicago suburbs. Dimitra holds degrees from the University of Illinois and Columbia University, where she was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in the business and journalism schools.